The direct operating expense associated with operating a typical commercial jet aircraft includes various components, such as maintenance, ownership, distribution, charges, passenger services, operations, and fuel. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA.org), fuel cost is one of the largest components—if not the largest component—of the direct operating expense of a commercial jet aircraft. Indeed, depending on the fluctuating price of crude oil, fuel cost can account for over 30 percent of the direct operating expense of a commercial jet aircraft.
Aircraft pilots and their supporting Airline Operations Center (AOC) often look for ways to improve the economics of air travel, such as by reducing an aircraft's fuel consumption. Fuel consumption may be reduced by flying an aircraft at a more efficient trajectory (speed and altitude). However, aircraft pilots are not free to fly at any desired trajectory. Rather, aircraft pilots are typically instructed by Air Traffic Control (ATC) to fly at a certain trajectory along a particular route, thereby ensuring an orderly flow of traffic through the commercial airspace. Any proposed revision to the trajectory and route desired by the airline must be negotiated with Air Traffic Control.
Currently, there is no simple way to determine, in real time, the fuel efficiency gained or lost due to a revision of an aircraft's trajectory. The prevailing option currently available is to invoke the on-board Flight Management Computer to execute the revised trajectory without knowing the quantity of fuel that will be remaining at destination. This prevailing option does not offer the economic trades for a range of negotiation possibilities to accommodate negotiations with Air Traffic Control for a more efficient flight trajectory.
Accordingly, those skilled in the art continue with research and development efforts in the field of aircraft fuel management.